Sunday, 30 January 2011

How do you clean up an oil spill or a chemical spill? You get out your spill response products and get to work. Read on to discover just what's involved.

Spill response products sounds like there's just one type of major product, but actually there are different kinds.

First of all, there are two major and very different tasks that need to be handled when there's a spill: containment and clean-up. So obviously, there are also two major kinds of spill response products -- those that contain the spill and prevent it from spreading, and those that will actually remove the substance that was spilled.

1) Containment

Containment is the first step. When there is a spill, it needs to be contained before it can be cleaned up (unless it's a very small spill).

And while certain spill response products can do double duty, generally containment products are in a completely different category from the clean-up products.

In fact, there are two different types of containment products: those that are usually in place already, in case a spill should occur. These include pallets and cabinets, which are basically a second layer of containment in which the original containers that hold the actual chemicals are placed.

However, once a spill has occurred and has escaped whatever containers that were supposed to prevent it, it's time for another type of spill containment product: spill booms, berms and dikes.

These types of products are arranged around the spill and prevent it from spreading farther. There are booms that work on water and on land. Berms and dikes are generally for spills on land, both inside and outside of industrial facilities.

2) Clean-up

Once the spill is contained, it's time to clean it up. The spill response products that are commonly used to clean spills up include absorbents of various kinds.

They can come in the form of spill kits, or they can be absorbent pads and rolls, or other types of absorbents, including socks and pillows.

They come in different varieties to handle different kinds of chemicals. There are universal absorbents, and absorbents specifically for oil-based chemicals and yet others for hazardous materials.

The key is to have the right kinds of spill response products at hand when there is a spill. So do a walk-around and figure out what types of spills could possibly happen and get the spill response products it would take to contain those spills -- and to clean it up.

Want to know more about spill response products? Get valuable tips and the latest news about absorbents and other environmental safety products on Travis Zdrazil's Safety Maintenance News blog and get his free newsletter too. Travis is an expert on environmental safety products and has supplied businesses with products to aid in meeting EPA and OSHA requirements for more than 10 years.